Magic Touch
by AerinM
Summary: A series of 4 short ficlets, written for feministkendra. In which Kendra and her magic fingers have discovered Bracken's weakness. Fluff.
1. Chapter 1

The first time he passed out, she'd been surprised and a little worried. Was he okay? What happened? Was he sick? Had she somehow harmed the son of the Fairy Queen without realizing it?

…Then he woke up about ten minutes later claiming to have had the best nap _ever_, and she became confused. He was only asleep? So… no emergency, then?

"Wait - you were _asleep?_"

Bracken gave her a sheepish smile and said, "Yeah… I guess I was. Sorry about that."

Kendra was perplexed. "You were _so asleep_ that I couldn't wake you up?"

He nodded in response and started to look a little embarrassed.

"You _really_ sleep that soundly?"

His cheeks began to turn slightly pink. "You have magic fingers," he weakly complained.

_Huh?_

"Try again?" she asked, not really understanding what had just happened.

"You were- you were scratching my neck and hair," he somewhat explained. "I was relaxed. Fell asleep."

"Really? _That_ quickly?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "You passed out in like 30 seconds flat!"

"You have magic fingers," he repeated. His tone of voice indicated that he was feeling defensive.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm… Yeah. I'm a unicorn, remember?"

Kendra put two and two together.

Ahhh. She'd been scratching at his mane.

_What a weird thought._

"I wasn't even tired until you started running your fingers through my hair," he continued. "I'm sorry I missed part of the movie."

Forget the movie. She was going to tease him about this mercilessly.

"It's okay. I've now figured out how to make you sleep whenever I want. That's a pretty cool new power." She waved her fingers in front of his face. "Magic fingers. You'd better watch out. They could come out of _nowhere_."

Bracken's eyes widened.

"What's that? The mighty and strong Bracken has been brought down by the soft and gentle Kendra? What's happened to our hero? Vanquished by a mere human!"

He grinned at her teasing. "Okay, I get it, you found my weakness."

"I hope you know that you're going to lose _all_ future tickle fights because of this," Kendra continued.

Bracken laughed. "Is that so?" He challenged, then tackled her to the floor and tickled her so much that she couldn't do anything but helplessly laugh and gasp for air. He erred, however, when he leaned in just a little too close and she scratched the back of his neck again.

He promptly passed out next to her on the floor while she continued to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Magic fingers. Of all things.

She was _never_ going to let him live this down.


	2. Chapter 2

She had to figure out if she really had magic fingers.

Well… okay, she knew she had a magic touch already, but she wanted to experiment. Could _anyone_ make Bracken fall asleep like that? Or was it just her?

She told Warren what happened, and the man laughed. Full-on, raucous, tears-in-his-eyes laughter. "_Really?!_" he exclaimed.

Kendra shushed him. "I don't want it broadcasted to the world… yet," she answered, looking around to see if anyone else had overheard. "I'm not out to embarrass him. But yeah - it totally happened."

Warren continued to laugh. "Wow. Isn't that precious? Our widdle Bracken has a weakness, and its Kendwa's… what did you say? '_Magic fingers?_'"

Kendra smiled. "I know, right? It's ridiculous. Here's the thing, though… I want to find out if it's really just me, or if anyone can do it."

"Oooh… I like the way you think," Warren remarked. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well… would you care to try out a little experiment with me?"

"I'm in."

* * *

Warren tried to get him. Really, he did. Bracken was just too fast.

His first attempt had been a bit sloppy, he admitted. Bracken wound up giving him this incredulous,_ "What on earth are you doing?" _expression and deftly sidestepped Warren's hand.

"There was a, uh… a bug. In your hair," he explained weakly.

Bracken narrowed his eyes in suspicion, then mussed up his own hair so as to cause any theoretical insects to fall to the ground. Unsurprisingly, there were none. The unicorn gave Warren another weird look and walked away.

The second attempt had gone about as well as the first, however this time, Bracken grabbed hold of Warren's wrist and then turned to say, "Kendra told you, didn't she?"

"Told me what?" Warren answered quickly.

Bracken shook his head. "I know you know what I'm talking about."

"That's kind of tricky, since_ I _don't even know what you're talking about."

"I can tell that you're lying," Bracken flatly stated, pointing with his free hand to the hand which still held Warren's wrist.

"Right. Uh… yes. Yes, she did."

Bracken released Warren's wrist. "It won't work," he warned.

"When you say '_won't work_,' do you mean that I just won't get the opportunity to try? Or do you mean that if I somehow managed to take you by surprise, it wouldn't work because I don't have _magic fingers?_"

Bracken's face flushed at Warren's words and, instead of giving a verbal response, the unicorn turned and ran off.

How strange. Was his friend really that embarrassed?


	3. Chapter 3

Seth had been an interesting choice, Bracken thought. _They went for the stealth route. _The problem with that approach, however, was that Bracken could see auras… and Seth was just as distinguishable as Kendra was. Whenever he walked into a room, darkness announced his presence in much the same way that bright light accompanied Kendra. Seth's aura was unmistakeable.

He had to admit, it was a clever idea, though. Too bad it wouldn't work.

His secret was obviously out. He was disappointed that Kendra hadn't just kept it between the two of them, and a little embarrassed, but if this was the way they wanted to play it… _he was going to mess with them all._

* * *

"How does he keep catching me?!" Seth loudly whispered to Warren. "It's like he has a sixth sense or something!"

"Maybe he does," Warren said, shrugging. "He's on his guard. Maybe it's a type of spidey-sense. A unicorn… sense. Uni-sense?"

Seth sighed explosively, pulling out his now somewhat-rarely-utilized emergency kit. He blindly dug around inside of it with his hand for a bit until he found what he was looking for.

"A firework?" Warren asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"It flashes. Really bright." Seth tried to pantomime flashing lights with his hands, however the effect wound up looking more like he was wrapping up a particularly fun dance routine rather than anything else.

"Uh-huh. And what do you intend to do with it?"

"Haven't you ever heard of a diversion before?"

"Of course I have. Are you old enough to operate fireworks?"

Seth spluttered at that comment. "I'm 17!"

Warren chose to amend his statement. "Are you sure you're _mature_ enough to be operating fireworks?"

"_You're_ the one who came to _me_ for help," Seth pointed out.

"Fair enough. What did you have in mind?" Warren leaned forward on his elbows in a gesture which indicated that he was listening.

"Well…"

* * *

"I'll see you again soon," Bracken told Kendra, releasing her from a tight embrace. "I'll let you know for sure later, but I anticipate in a few days."

"I'll hold you to it," Kendra smiled in return. She waved at him and watched as he turned away from the house and headed out to the edge of the yard, in the direction of the lake which cradled the fairy shrine. She was about to head into the house when a bright light started flashing toward Bracken's right and loud noises simultaneously emitted from somewhere in the trees. She was confused and almost rushed forward to help her unicorn with whatever was going on, when she heard her brother suddenly cry out.

_What on earth was going on?_

"Seth?" she asked, noticing that her brother had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere. Bracken had grabbed hold of Seth's wrist and pinned him to the ground. "What happened?"

Bracken suddenly let go of Seth and darted off into the woods, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Kendra and a sorry-looking Seth. Her brother looked up at her and said, "Wait for it."

"You weren't supposed to find me!" Warren's voice rang out in the trees.

"And _you're_ supposed to make sure that Seth doesn't start forest fires, yet here we are. I've caught you both. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way," Bracken said, pushing Warren toward the direction where Seth was still laying on the ground.

"Bracken - wait - what is going on-" Kendra began, but she was interrupted.

"You _told_ them," he answered, his face flushed. "And now they won't leave me alone."

"Told them…?" A lightbulb went off in Kendra's brain. "Wait, no - I only told Warren-" she rounded on her cousin. "You told _Seth?_"

"You wanted to try out an experiment!" Warren defended himself.

"I meant to keep it between _us! _Not tell the whole family!"

"I only talked to Seth about it-"

"Which is basically the same as telling _everyone!_"

"Hey! I don't blab things to everyone! Snitches get stitches!" Seth protested, standing up from his place on the ground.

"Shut up, Seth! This isn't about you!" Kendra shouted.

"Well, gee, sorry for not realizing that a conversation about _me_ isn't actually about _me!_"

"Guys!" Warren interjected, catching the siblings' attention. "Stop fighting."

"_You started it!_" Both Kendra and Seth pointed at Warren.

"_I _started it? How did_ I_ start it?"

"You didn't ask me before you told-! Wait, where's Bracken?" Kendra looked around, but didn't see him anywhere. The boys joined in her efforts.

"I don't see him anywhere," Seth said.

"He must've snuck away while we were arguing," Warren supplied. "If we hurry, we might be able to catch him before he gets to the shrine."

Kendra's face fell. "No," she responded, feeling perhaps a little disappointed in herself. "I think… I think he doesn't want to see us anymore right now."

_And I think I need to figure out a way to apologize to him_, she thought.


	4. Chapter 4

_I promise I'm not angry._

Kendra held onto a communicator coin Bracken had given her ages ago. _Are you sure?_

_Positive_, he answered. _I've just been busy here._

_It's just… you haven't responded to my calls, and I thought you were going to visit a couple days ago, but you didn't show up…_ Kendra rubbed the bridge of her nose while she contemplated what she wanted to say.

_I'm not angry_, Bracken confirmed once again.

_I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have told Warren about what happened._

_I overreacted. It's really not that big of a deal… I was just embarrassed, and I apologize for the way I behaved._

_And I shouldn't have betrayed your confidence like that_, Kendra insisted.

_Well, then I suppose we both learned lessons, _Bracken responded. _Perhaps some things should not be disclosed to others, and perhaps I can be a bit of a drama queen at times._

Kendra giggled at that remark. _Bracken the drama queen. Who knew?_

_My mother,_ he answered. _She knew. Knows. I went to prison because I didn't listen to her, remember? I believe my exact train of thought was something akin to, 'my mother's failure to investigate is surely in need of correction, regardless of the fact that she has warned me to stay away. I'm going to find out what's happen— oh, wait, maybe Mother was correct after all.'_

Bracken's words were accompanied by a sense of mirth, and Kendra laughed at both the feelings and the words which he had conveyed to her. _I hate to break it to you but that's not drama, Bracken. That's just plain old rebellion._

_Hmm. I have been on a bit of a rebellious streak as well, I suppose…_

_Sure. Whatever you say_, Kendra teased. _Bracken the dramatic rebel. For some reason, I just can't picture that in my brain._

_That's because you're picturing it wrong. For one, you didn't give my title enough flair. It should be thought of as 'Bracken, the Dramatic Rebel.' Also, imagine some jazzy guitar music in the background and perhaps fireworks._

_Jazzy guitar music?!_

_The stuff that Seth listens to._

_That's not jazz!_

_Whatever he called it. I liked it._

Bracken proceeded to hum the tune of some Lenny Kravitz song that Seth listened to when he was thinking about doing something brash for the sake of having something to do, and Kendra nearly lost her mind with laughter.

_You are _not_ my brother,_ she advised.

_Thank heaven for small favors like that one._

_What? You wouldn't want to be my brother?_

She could feel the sigh of exasperation which came from the unicorn boy._ I would prefer to be your date._

That caught Kendra's attention. _Date?_

_Correct._

_…so are you going to expound on that one, or am I just supposed to guess at what's to follow?_

_Would you like for me to expound?_

_Yes. Yes, I would._

_Well, perhaps if you made your way down to the back yard, I'd be willing to explain myself a little more._

Kendra sat up on her bed and walked over to the window in order to peer outside. Sure enough, Bracken was walking up toward the porch.

_You sneak_, she thought. Before she could deposit the coin where she usually stowed it, however, she received Bracken's response.

_I told you I was dramatic._

She grinned and ran out of her room toward the back yard in order to collect her unicorn.

* * *

Seth knew that Dale had been a long shot, but he couldn't resist.

"You want me to _what?_" his cousin asked.

"Distract Bracken. Or I'll distract him, and then you can rub the back of his head," Seth answered.

Dale gave Seth an incredulous look. "Uh-huh. And why would you want me to invade his personal space like that?"

"Kendra said it makes him fall asleep, and I want to know if anyone else can do it!"

"Why don't you just _ask_ him?"

Seth blinked. "Where's the fun in that?"

Dale shook his head. "You said _Warren_recruited you?"

"Yeah."

"And you think _I'd_ somehow be successful when you and Warren weren't?"

Seth nodded. "You have the element of surprise. He'd never expect you to join in!"

"_How_ old are you again?"

Seth folded his arms across his chest. "Look… if you don't want to help me, you can just say so."

"Oh, no. I'm in," Dale committed.

The boy blinked. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I'm in. Now where's Warren? We'll need his help for what I've got planned." He was wearing a straight face, which made him very difficult to read.

"Really, really? Seriously?"

Dale rolled his eyes. "_Yes_. Are you going to help me find Warren or not?"

Seth stood up from where he'd been sitting, a large smile across his face. "He's over here! Follow me!"

* * *

Kendra and Bracken were sitting on the couch watching another movie with a bowl of popcorn between them. She'd taken it upon herself to make sure he saw all of the Disney classics, and they were currently viewing Aladdin. Bracken was positively captivated by the screen, which caused her to smile to herself.

_He was adorable._

She picked up the bowl of popcorn and placed it in her lap, then scooter closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her and smiled at her before returning his attention to the television.

Maybe five minutes later, Dale, Warren and Seth walked into the room, with Dale holding the other two by their ears. Warren and Seth were complaining and creating so much noise that Kendra paused the film and she and Bracken both turned around to see what the ruckus was about.

Dale released his hold on Warren and Seth and said, gesturing to Bracken, "You two owe him an apology."

Warren and Seth looked annoyed, but Warren recovered first. Bracken, for his part, appeared to be slightly bemused.

"You're right, Dale. I'm sorry, Bracken. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I'm old enough to know what crossing a line looks like, and I definitely crossed it." Warren nudged Seth with his elbow, prompting the boy to speak next.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Sorry, Bracken."

The unicorn bowed his head toward them. "Apologies accepted. We're watching a movie. Would you care to join?"

Warren clapped his friend on the shoulder. "The day I want to sit down and observe a kiss fest between you and my baby cousin is the day I ask you to please kill me first. No thanks, man, but you two have fun. Just… keep it PG." He winked at Kendra, who flushed bright red.

"We're just watching a _movie!_" she cried.

"Sure." Wink. "Watching a movie." Wink.

Seth cackled, and Dale stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Perhaps it would be a good idea for you two to leave Kendra and Bracken alone to enjoy the rest of their show?" The way he delivered the question clearly indicated that it wasn't a suggestion.

"Good going, Seth. You've activated Mom!Dale," Warren remarked. "Enjoy your movie, you two," he added, then left the room.

Seth remained rooted to the floor. "I'll leave," he promised, "but I gotta know - does Kendra really have magic fingers, or will it work for anyone? _Ow!_" Dale had lightly whacked him upside the head at that question.

"I brought you here to apologize, not pester," the older man insisted. "You're done apologizing. Now leave him in peace."

Seth rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh as he allowed himself to be escorted out of the room by his cousin.

Bracken started shaking with mirth once the intruders departed. "Remind me to thank Dale later," he said. "That was highly amusing."

Kendra smiled at him and picked the remote control back up again. "Let's finish our movie. But I admit… I _do_ have the same question as Seth."

"Well… you have magic fingers," he explained. "They don't."

"So it's a fairykind thing?" she clarified.

Bracken leaned his head to the left a bit. "Eh… kind of. Let's leave it there for now."

She could sense that he was starting to feel a little embarrassed again, so she dropped the subject. Mostly. As she pressed play on the movie and they resumed their snuggled position from earlier, Kendra whispered to Bracken, "I'm your weakness."

He chuckled at her comment. "Yes, you are," he answered.


End file.
